Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society is leading an educational outreach initiative actively engaging Kerry primary and secondary schools in researching and showcasing their local history and heritage. In 2020, two inaugural projects were created: The Heritage Hunters Award for primary schools and The Kerry Young Historian Award for secondary schools. Joint project leaders are KAHS Education Officers Victoria McCarthy (Architectural Conservation Officer, Kerry County Council) and Claudia Köhler (Education, Community and Outreach Officer, Kerry County Museum).

The Kerry Heritage Hunters Award
Heritage Hunters is an award-winning local heritage competition open to all Kerry primary schools. Project partners include the following organisations: the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, Kerry County Museum, Radio Kerry, Kerry County Council, the Education Support Centre Tralee, and the Heritage in Schools Programme by the Heritage Council of Ireland. Heritage Hunters is an exciting opportunity to showcase the amazing heritage projects that are underway in primary schools across Kerry. The project runs from September to March of the following year and teachers who would like to express their interest can contact our Education Officers at at any time throughout the academic year.

Participating schools will be in with a chance to have their local heritage project broadcast on Radio Kerry, and they can also avail of a free Mobile Museum Outreach Visit and a free visit to Kerry County Museum.

Previous award winners:
2023: St Brendan’s NS Fenit – Little Samphire Lighthouse
2022: Kilcummin NS – The Development of Education in Kilcummin
2021: Glenbeigh NS – The Ghost Train to Croker

Excitingly, Kerry Heritage Hunters, which previously won the Wild Child Heritage Week Award in 2021, has also won the prestigious IMRO Award in October 2023. The award-winning heritage education initiative now has a dedicated page on Radio Kerry’s podcast section: www.radiokerry.ie/podcasts/heritage-hunters-podcast/

You can also scan QR code below to listen to all podcasts to date:

The Kerry Young Historian Award
The Kerry Young Historian Award is an annual competition open to all Kerry secondary schools and young people from Kerry aged 12 to 19, who would like to explore their local history, archaeology, and heritage. There are two categories: Junior (1st to 3rd year) and Senior (4th to 6th year). The initiative is a creative collaboration with many project partners: Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, Kerry County Museum, Kerry County Council, Tralee Education Support Centre and the History Teachers Association, Kerry branch.

The purpose of the award is to encourage participants to research local history topics in a personal, interesting, and critical way with a special focus on some of Kerry’s lesser known or untold stories. The award aims to encourage young people to actively engage with local history and archaeology in and out of the classroom, and to encourage and produce the historians of the future.

The winning essays of both categories will be published in the prestigious Kerry Magazine, an annual publication by the Kerry Archaeological & Historical Society. Each participating school will receive a voucher from Kerry County Museum for a free visit or outreach visit to the school. Prize-winning schools in the Junior and Senior categories will be guaranteed a free living history workshop as part of the Architecture Kerry Festival in September 2024.

The project runs from September to March of the following year and teachers and young people who would like to express their interest can contact our Education Officers at at any time throughout the academic year.

Previous Kerry Young Historian Award Winners:
2021: Eoin McElligott, Gaelcholáiste Chiarraí – The Monument, Lixnaw
2022: Mira Danielak, St Jospeph’s Secondary School Ballybunion – My great-grandfather Jan Danielak
2023: Kieran Cahill, CBS Tralee – The Murder of Batty McCarthy and the Trial of his Killer William Little 1916-1917

		Kieran Cahill, a graduate of CBS, Tralee was presented with the overall Kerry Young Historian Award by Jimmy Deenihan at Kerry County Museum on 27 September 2023. Awards were also presented in the junior, senior and highly commended categories to Anna O’ Mahony, Scoil Phobail Sliabh Luachra, Rathmore, Aaron Harty, Mercy Mounthawk, Lauren Coffey, Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland, Rory O’Flaherty, Mercy Mounthawk, Niamh O’Donnell, Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland, Siobhan Griffin, Mercy Mounthawk, Edel O’Donoghue, Presentation Secondary School, Castleisland, and Adam Lucid, Castleisland Community College (absent). Also in the photo are Claudia Köhler, Kerry County Museum and KAHS Council, Victoria McCarthy, Kerry County Council and KAHS Council, Tony Bergin, President, and Edel Codd, Hon. Secretary, Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society. (Photo by Pauline Dennigan)